As is well known to owners of automotive vehicles having removable canvas or plastic tops and boat owners who employ plastic or canvas cockpit covers held in place by snap fasteners, the tops or covers are designed so that the canvas or other material of which the cover is formed is tightly stretched when installed. When the top or cover is removed or unsnapped it normally tends to shrink as a consequence of which reinstallation of the cover, particularly the coupling of the last several snap fasteners, frequently requires considerable force to stretch the fabric enough to get the mating fastener halves aligned, combined with some manual dexterity to snap the halves together once alignment is achieved because the installer's fingers are between the fabric upon which one fastener half is mounted and the fixed structure upon which the mating fastener half is mounted.
The present invention is directed specifically to a manually operable tool which is capable of exerting sufficient force to draw the mating fastener halves into alignment with each other and which, in the same manipulation, can effect joining of the two fastener halves together.